The Saturdays' Mollie King talks sex on a first date, one-night stands

Mollie King has revealed that she is a lady when it comes to her love life.

The Saturdays star told Cosmopolitan: "I've never had a one-night stand or sex on the first date, and I don't think I ever would. It's important for a guy to know and understand me before he can even think about taking things to the next step."

Having once dated Lawson's Andy Brown and model David Gandy, she says: "I'm enjoying being single and I'm definitely not gagging to be in another relationship. When I go out, I'm not going out to find a man; I'm going out to dance the night away with my best friends.

"The positives are huge. I've learnt a lot about myself - small things like learning to live by myself and take care of myself. I love that I don't rely on anyone else or need to lean on anyone else; I can just do things on my own. Being single has definitely given me a new lease of life."

Despite enjoying single life, she admits heartbreak is the hardest thing: "Having your heart broken is hard at the best of times, but being in the public eye has definitely made it harder for me... The point is, you don't want your ex to read how you're feeling - or vice versa.

"I've had my heart broken and it's the hardest thing. You feel like it's never, ever going to heal - especially during the first few weeks.

"This is my first time being properly single and at first I had that shock of, 'Oh my god, who do I call at night when I go to sleep? Who do I call if I get upset?' But I just needed to adapt to that person not being around. Being single has forced me to grow up and be more independent, and that's something I'm really proud of."

So, what does she look for in a man? "For me, the most attractive thing in a man is the ability to make me laugh. He has to be spontaneous, fun and able to banter - it's not a job interview, it's a date! I like day dates, and I like throwing the ball in his court.

"When I was a teenager I wanted a surfer dude; now I want a man - someone who's confident and who'll look after me, and who won't play games."

She's also adamant she'll hold out for her happy-ever-after: "I want the fairy tale and I'm not going to settle for anything less... Everyone thinks I must come from the perfect family where we all just bake cakes, because I'm so upbeat and positive about love. But I'm not; my parents split when I was 8.

"Seeing my parents makes me realise that life is not a fairy tale. But I still want mine to be as close to one as I can get… It's about meeting the perfect guy, falling in love, being genuinely happy - and knowing that, in 40 years' time, if you were still waking up next to that guy you'd still feel like the luckiest girl alive. I think if you can stay together all those years, you're living the fairy tale."

On her sex symbol status, she said: "Your personality is what makes you sexy. The way you hold and deliver yourself. The women I think are sexy in any given room aren't necessarily the best-looking, but they have an aura and a confidence about them that just gives off sex appeal.

"In all honesty I don't really know how to feel sexy. But I do think it's all about being yourself. Don't transform into someone else, because people can see through that... Sexy is being independent, being confident and having fun."

The full interview appears in the March 2013 issue of Cosmopolitan, on sale January 31.